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| Africa North |
| Muslim Brotherhood to Fight Egyptian Law |
| 2006-02-13 |
| President Hosni Mubarak's decree to extend the terms of thousands of political allies in local government drew an angry response Monday from the Muslim Brotherhood, which claimed the Egyptian leader was trying to keep power for his ruling party. Local council terms were to have expired Tuesday, and by law new elections were to be scheduled within 60 days. But Mubarak has asked for a two-year extension of the terms of those now in office — a majority of them members of Mubarak's party — to six years. That would give Mubarak more time to try to stem momentum for the increasingly popular Brotherhood. "They are trying to bloc further gains for us. Why else would they postpone?" Essam Mukhtar, a Brotherhood-linked member of parliament, told The Associated Press. The local councils are responsible for services at a district, town and village level and are critical institutions of centralized state control. The Shura Council, Egypt's upper house, voted in favor Sunday of the Mubarak decree to extend by two years the terms of 4,500 officeholders. The measure still needs a vote in the People's Assembly, the lower house, where Mubarak's National Democratic Party holds a solid majority. Approval of the decree was seen as a virtual certainty. "We are going to try to stop that law from passing. We're not going to be frustrated. We're going to use the legitimate means available to us, and make the whole nation know our stance," Mukhtar said. In parliamentary elections last year, candidates aligned with the Brotherhood surpassed all expectations, winning 88 seats, compared with the 15 the previous 454-member parliament. The victories came despite widespread police violence aimed at preventing opposition supporters from reaching polling stations and accusations of rigging results. Mubarak's NDP still holds a 311-seat majority, however, and the Brotherhood's attempt to block the delay seemed doomed to failure. Mufid Shihab, minister of state for Legal Affairs and Legislative Councils and a key member of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, said the delay was necessary because "we are planning a constitutional amendment." His explanation was posted Sunday on the ruling party Web site. The nature of the amendment has not been made public. In what was probably a futile attempt to block the decree, the Brotherhood introduced its own proposal on Monday that would limit the postponement to six months. The government sought to explain the delay as purely procedural. "Holding elections now won't be in line with a new law for local administration which is under way," Shura Council speaker Safwat el-Sherif was quoted as saying in the pro-government daily Al-Gomhouria. In an interview with Newsweek last month, Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, acknowledged government interference in the last legislative elections to prevent even greater Brotherhood gains. But "after the victories of the Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in Palestine, the NDP is afraid of the pro-Islamist atmosphere," he said. The militant, anti-Israeli Hamas organization won an overwhelming victory in Palestinian elections last month. Gamal Mubarak, Mubarak's 42-year-old son who is spearheading reform within NDP, said Sunday "we need a constitutional amendment (on elections). It might be limited or big. We all agree on amending some of the current articles, but we differ on a comprehensive amendment," he said. Egypt has been a focus of U.S. efforts to bring greater democratic reform to the Middle East. But after last year's presidential elections which returned Mubarak to power with a huge, if questionable margin, and the violence-tarnished parliamentary voting, the U.S. issued critical assessments. That was compounded by the imprisonment of Ayman Nour, an opposition leader who came in second to Mubarak in the presidential vote. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |